Friction-calender for tire fabric.



H. J. DOUGHTY. FRICTION GALENDEB FOR TIRE FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 30, 1912.

1,077,126. Patented 00t.28, 1913.

5, 2 SHEETS-SHEET l. ,q

Invent n? H. J. DOUGHTY. FRICTION GALENDER FOR TIRE FABRIC. APPLICATIONFILED DEC. 30, 1912.

1,077,126. Patented 0 01:. 28, 1913.-

2 SHEETS-SHEET z.

Witnesses Inventur HenryJDoajZ? HENRY J. DOUGHTY, 0F EDGEWOOD, RHODEISLAND.

FBIG'PION QELENDER E63 TIRE FABRIC;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 30, 1912. Serial No. 739,232.

To-all whom it may concern .1

Be it known that I, HENRY J Doucrrrr, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Edgewood, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFriction-Calenders for Tire Fabric, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to-machine for coating fabric with rubber, orother material, and has for its object to provide a; machine that isadapted to calender a strip of fabric whose natural woven form. isconcavoconvex in cross section, and to provide this machine with afriction rollthat is convex in longitudinal section, and to also providethe complemental rolls of the calender of a corresponding concave shapeto cooperate with the friction, roll for the-purpose of receiving andacting upon the fabric of the corresponding shape, and applying thecoating of rubber uniformly toall of the different portions of itssurface while said: different portions are traveling at relativelydifferent speeds through the calendering machine.

A further object of my invention. is to provide means for stretching thefabric transversely, both before and after passing it through thecalendaring rolls.

A further object of the invention is to provide a forming reelcooperating the calender for receiving andshaping the' coat ed fabricwhile warm. and in a plastic GODdi-r tion and to wind, the same spirallyinto superimposedlayers toform the tirecasing from one continuous stripof fabric.

A still further object of .theinvention is to provide simple and'efiective means whereby when the desired number of layers of fabric havebeen wound upon the form, the strip may be severed and the formwithdrawn and another immediately positioned to take its place toreceive the stripv without interfering with the continuousaction of thecalender. 7

With these and. other objects in. view, the invention consists ofcertain novel features of construction, as will be more fully describedand particularly pointed out in. theappended claims.

Of the accompanying drawings: Figure 1- is a plan view showing mycombination fabric coating machine and rotatable form on which thefabric after having been coated is wound in a plurality of superimposedlayers Fig. 2 is acentral sectional side elevation. of the mechanismillustratedin Fig. 1. Fig. 3- is a rotatable sectional ele vationshowing the frictional plates through which the form reel receives itsrotary motion- 4 is a front elevation of the fabric coating machine.Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a coating machine showing a set ofcalender rolls with convex and. concave surfaces, butha'ving their endsformed straight instead of curved like those shown: in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 isa central sectional elevatlon. of the construction shown in Fig. 5' Fig.is a detail showing the concaveconvexform of the fabric in cross sectionsuch as my improved machine is designedv to operate upom My improvedcalendering machine is one of a series of machines employed in themanufacture of casings for vehicle tires, and is designed to apply acoating of rubber or similar plastic or other material to the surface ofthe fabric as it passes therethrough. The fabric to be acted upon. inthis machine is not of the usual plain flat shape, but is preferablywoven to naturally take the shape of the tire casing both circularlyaround its periphery and. circularly around the tire in transversesection whereby the warp threads of the middle of the fabric are longerand graduate in length toward the edges thereof therefore beingnaturally of a COHCikYO-CDDrvex shape in cross section, as illustratedin Fig. 7. fabric is also of a. particularly open weave especially onits tread portion so that the coating of rubber applied theretomay heforced through these open meshes to the opposite side so completelythatthe fabric requires a coating applied to but one side only. To operateon a fahric of this particular shape and construction requires acoating. machine of special construction.

Referring to the drawings, lfldesignatcs the upper side frames of thisspecially con structed. fabric coatin .machine in which are PatentedOct. 28, 1913.

adjustably mounted t e calender rolls II, 12 a and 13. These rolls maybe driven inany desired manner and fromany convenient source of power,but I have shown the roll- 13 as driven from the shaft 14 through thepinion: 15 and large gear 16, and this roll in preferably mounted invertically slidable journal boxes of any usual or preferred constructionand are adapted to be adjusted either toward or from the middle calenderroll by means of the set of screws 21 and 22 respectively. Theadjustmentof the upper roll is for the purpose of regulating the thickness of thecoating to be applied to the fabric while the adj ustment of the lowerroll is for the purpose of regulating the pressure by which the coatingis inserted into the pores or meshes of the fabric. A holder H isarranged to feed the coating material between rollers 11 and 12. asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 6.

An essential feature of my improved machine is the form of constructionof the calendering rolls. The contour in cross section of the middle orfriction roll 12 is similar to that of the fabric in cross section, thatis, the roll is convex in its middle transverse section with outwardlyflaring end flanges 23 the middle portion 24 of the roll being shaped toaccommodate the tread portion of the tire fabric while the beveled orflaring flanges 23 are to receive and accommodate and act upon the edgesor flap portions of the fabric which are to be folded back upon thesides of the casing after the wire or stiffening member has been appliedthereto. The complemental rolls 11 and 13 are necessarily formed in acorresponding convex shape with oppositely shaped end flanges 25 so asto cooperate with the flaring flanges of the center friction roll. Oneof the reasons for forming this friction roll 12 with a convex surfaceis, so as to cause the fabric to take its natural shape while beingcoated. Another reason for this shape of friction roll is that itsmiddle por tion, which is the largest, will naturally travel the fastestwhich speed is in proportion and corresponds to the length of thecorresponding portions of the-fabric, in other Words, the middle threadsof the tread portion of the fabric are longer than those at the edge andconsequently must travel proportionately faster which speed iscontrolled or taken care of by the convex shape of the roll. I hereinbroadly refer to the fabric as of arched form in cross section, and tothe friction roll as of varying diameter corresponding to the crosssectional form of the said fabric.

Another advantage is secured by forming the roll 12 of convex shape anddriving it I faster than the roll 13. For instance, it is well knownthat the rubber coating will follow the faster of two rolls. Therefore,a greater quantity of rubber will be applied to the fabric at the middlepoint of the convex roll 12 than at the ends thereof. The particularfabric that I prefer to treat is more loosely woven and thicker at themiddle than at the edges and consequently the rubber must be fed morerapidly at the middle than at the edges. It is also desirable to makethe rubber coating thicker at the middle than at the edges. Both ofthese functions are accomplished by forming the friction roll asillustrated and driving it faster than the pressure roll. I do not limitmyself to the application of more plastic material, per unit of area, atthe middle or arched portion of the fabric than at the sides thereof, asthis may or may not be done, within the scope of the invention. Becausethe middle port-ion of the tire or fabric is arched or curved ratherthan flat, the said middle portion, being of greater area, receives moreplastic material. These rolls may be heated to any desired temperatureby steam applied through pipes 26 and 27 by any other suitable means.

In order that the fabric may be lfeld out in its natural shape andstretched somewhat before it enters the calendar rolls, I have providedrotary worm-shaped stretching rolls 28 which act upon its marginal edgesto stretch the weft threads laterally. These stretchers are shown asbeing actuated from one of the roll shafts through the sprocket chain29.

1 After the fabric has passed through the calender rolls and beencoated, it is found to be of great importance to engage and stretch thesame laterally until practically all of the stretch has been removedfrom the weft threads, which is accomplished by means of the two pairsof friction belts 30 and 31 which run over the sets of pulleys 32 and33, respectively the latter set being driven through the medium ofsprocket chains 34 and 35 from one of the roll shafts. The surface ofthese tension applying belts may be supplied with any suitable means,such as pins or other suitable means, for firmly engaging the edges ofthe fabric, and they are set on divergin -angles so as to pull andstretch the fabric laterally to its fullest extent. I do not wish to belimited to the lateral stretching means shown and described,

as any other suitable means may be employed for this purpose withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

In order to shape this fabric while its coating is still in a warm orplastic state, I have provided a forming reel or wheel 36 whoseperiphery 37 is substantially the size and shape of the inner walls ofthe finished casing. This former is shown as being mounted on one end ofthe shaft 38 and a similar or duplicate former 48 is mounted on theopposite end of said shaft. This shaft is mounted in bearings 44supported on 46 to slide longitudinally in guides 47 and the said shaftwith its two formers is shown 42, and worm wheel43 so as being driven byan electric motor 39 through the friction plate 40, shaft 41, worm as toapply a light circular pull on the fabric as it is wound on the former,but I do not wish to'be restricted to any particular means for rotatingthis former as any suitable driving means may be employed. After thedesired number of layers of fabric have been wound one upon the other onthe former the strip is severed and the carriage portion 46 is slidlongitudinally across to reih'ove this former 36 with its shaped casingand to simultaneously position the duplicate former 48 to continue toreceive the fabric as is being continuously produced from thecalenderand that without stopping the operation of the calender. The former isnow readily removed from the central shaft and another former slippedinto position thereon ready to be moved back into position toreceiveanother winding of the fabric when the second. casing has been completedon the other former48, andso on this action-isrepeated first one formerand then another is employed for receiving and shaping the layers offabric into the form of a casing The forming wheels as removed may beplaced on another mounting for the purpose of receiving the outer ortread portion of rubber which is applied thereto, after which the wheelis collapsed by bending the spoke 50 back into the dotted positionillustrated in Fig. 2 and swinging inward the two hinge rim sections 51and 52 thereby permitting the casing ormed thereon to be readily removedto be subsequently acted upon in a moldingpress. The rim sections ofthis former are then replaced and the wheel is in readiness to be againmounted on the shaft 38 and slid into position to have the fabric againwound thereon.

I have described the friction roll as having an oval or convex workingsurface, but I do not desire to be restricted to the use of thisparticular form of roll as a roll having any irregular shaped face witha plurality of different diameters along its Working face will fallwithin the spirit and scope of my invention. By irregular shape I mean aroll constructed out of the usual form, that is, not of the plaincylindrical shape universally used in the ordinary calendering machine.

I claim:

1. A'machine for coating a concavo-con vex fabric comprising a frictionroll shaped to have a greater middle than at the ends, a pressure rollcom- -friction roll and to peripheral speed at the mass of plasticmaterial at the feeding point,

whereby a greater quantity of said plastic material is applied to themiddle of the fabric than to the edges and means engaging the edges onlyof the fabric for stretching the same laterally as it' is delivered fromsaid friction and pressure rolls.

3. A machine for coating a concavo-con vex fabric comprising a frictionroll shaped to have a greater peripheral speed at the middle than at theends, a pressure roll complemental thereto, a feed roll cooperating withsaid friction roll, and to which plastic material may be supplied,whereby a greater quantity of said plastic material is applied to themiddle of the fabric than to the edges, and means for stretching thefabric before subjecting the samevto the action of said friction andpressure rolls, and means for stretching the fabric as it leaves saidrolls.

4. A machine for coating a concavo-convex fabric comprising a frictionroll shaped to have a greater peripheral speed at the middle than at theends, a pressure roll complelnental thereto, a feed roll cooperatingwith said friction roll, and to which plastic material may be supplied,whereby a greater quantity of said plastic material is applied to themiddle of the fabric than to the edges, and diverging friction beltsengaging the fabric as it is delivered by said rolls.

5. A machine for'coating a fabric of arched form in cross-section,comprising a friction roll of varving diameter corresponding to thecross-sectional form of the said fabric, a pressure roll complemental tosaid friction roll and a feed roll cooperating with said which plasticcoating material may be supplied, whereby more plastic material isapplied to the arched portion of the fabric than to the edges.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY J. DOUGHTY. Witnesses HOWARD E. BARLoW, E. I. OGDEN.

